Note: Javascript is disabled or is not supported by your browser. For this reason, some items on this page will be unavailable. For more information about this message, please visit this page:
About CDC.gov

The purpose of this paper is to examine the situational and individual officer characteristics of officer-involved vehicle collisions that result in fatality, injury, and non-injury outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on 35,840 vehicle collisions involving law enforcement officers in California occurring between January 2000 and December 2009 are examined. A descriptive analysis of collision characteristics is presented.

Findings

There were 39 officers killed by collisions over this study period and 7,684 officers who received some type injury. Incidents involving officers on motorcycles represented 39 percent of officer fatalities and 39 percent of severe injuries. In the case of fatalities, 33 percent of officers were reported as wearing seatbelts, 38 percent were not wearing a seatbelt, and seatbelt use was not stated in 29 percent of car fatalities.

Research limitations/implications

The findings only represent one state and the analysis is based on an estimated 86 percent of collisions that occurred during the study period due to missing data. Nonetheless, the results are based on a robust sample and address key limitations in the existing literature.

Practical implications

During the study period in California the estimated financial impact of collisions reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars when considering related fatality, injury, and vehicle damage costs combined. These impacts highlight the need for the law enforcement community to give greater attention to this issue.

Originality/value

At the time of this writing there was no published independent research that compares the situational and officer characteristics across fatality, injury, and non-injury outcomes in these events. The findings reported here will help inform emerging interest in this issue within the law enforcement, academic, and policy-making communities.

Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatality among Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs), yet data on motor-vehicle-related incidents and motor-vehicle operations are scant. Unfortunately, the limited avail­ability of data makes it...

The goal of NOIRS is to provide a forum for researchers and other professionals to share their findings and experiences aimed at preventing traumatic occupational injury through research and prevention. In addition to presenting current research find...

The IACP Research Advisory Committee is proud to offer the monthly Research in Brief column. This column features evidence-based research summaries that highlight actionable recommendations for Police Chief magazine readers to consider within their o...